Woodland Public School has been open for a while but on Monday it had its official opening in the school gym.

Students from 3 schools are attending the institution: King George, J. W. Trusler and Dr. Macdougall.

Principal Julie Beaudoin says having a bigger school created some challenges and staff and 300 of the schools 500 students hadn’t ridden on a school bus before.

She says initially it took 45 minutes to load the 9 school buses but now they’re down to 12 minutes.

Near North District School Board Board chair David Thompson says the school offers French Immersion and as well as Native Language studies so it’s very inclusive.

He says the consolidation of schools is a huge transition in year 1and he looks forward to year 2 now that the transition is complete.

Filed under: Dave Thompson, Woodland